By Phill Courtney
Now, after we’ve heard so many, I’d like to add a few more words of tribute for Pope Francis. I had said a few words about him two days before he’d left us, and while, of course, he had no way of knowing I had, just the same, I’m glad I did because he certainly deserved them
These words were heard at the Redlands Center for the Realization of Spirit on Saturday, April 19th, during one of my Inland Empire Almanac variety talent shows I do there, at a time when he was out of the hospital and many of us thought he might be rallying, and we’d have him for at least a little while longer.
So, it came as somewhat of a surprise when my wife told me of his passing that following Monday, the day after Easter. Appropriately enough, he’d “gone out” almost with his booties on after we’d seen him just the day before on both the Vatican’s balcony, and then during a spin through the square in the “Popemobile.”
In my show, I mentioned a newspaper report I’d seen which explained how the Pope, decrying, as I have, the increasing use of robot answering machines whenever you call somewhere, for instance a hospital; a government office; or to pay your bills, and wanting to counter this increasing dehumanization of our culture, Francis issued a decree that actual humans—what a concept—answer the phones at the Vatican by putting numerous nuns on the job, and for this I gave the Pope a two thumbs up.
“Hello. Yes, this is the Vatican and thank you for asking. The Pope is doing much better.”
Now, sadly, they’re saying: “Thank you for the kind words about our late beloved Father.”
Francis was both humane and simply human and consistently recognized the humanity in us all.
For instance, there was the famous and much remarked upon moment when Francis was asked early in his papacy about his stance when it came to the LGBTQ community and was quoted as saying: “Who am I to judge?” which was heard by many as a breath of fresh air. Of course, when it came to matters involving the actual empowerment of the gay community and, yes, women, for many, the Pope didn’t go far enough, while for some he’d gone too far.
As for me, while I’ve never been a big fan of Catholicism and its stands on several social issues I could name, many of which you could too, like birth control, there’s some important exceptions, like their official opposition to executions and many illegal and immoral wars, especially when they’ve opposed ours, like the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which many American Christians did support.
Francis was also a recent and outspoken opponent to what’s happening in Gaza, and today I would like to focus on yet another issue that came up between him and our current vice president, who converted to Catholicism in 2019. This happened a few months ago, shortly before Francis entered the hospital for his final stay.
In a nutshell, it came down to this: during a TV interview, the VP cited what he regarded as the correct interpretation of the Catholic doctrine of, in its Latin term, ordo amoris—in English: correctly ordered love, as it relates to the “hot potato” issue of immigration—an issue, many could argue, helped put him and his boss in the White House.
For the VP this interpretation holds that the focus of Christian concern for those around us should begin first with ourselves; then our own immediate family; then expand to include our neighbors; then our neighborhood; our country; and finally, those in other countries. In other words, our own families come first, and not, as they’re always referred to in certain circles: “the illegal immigrants.”
After these comments, Francis was prompted to school the VP on what he and many others within the Catholic church and other spiritual traditions see as the real meaning of ordo amoris, which focuses on welcoming the stranger and the parable told by Jesus called The Good Samaritan, which Jesus used to express his conviction that love should be all-inclusive, and embrace not just those we personally love and are “just like us,” but everyone, regardless of their beliefs or where they came from. Just another of his radical ideas.
And for this comment Francis was vilified by some in those circles, as was the Episcopalian minister Mariann Budde, who dared to ask our new president to show mercy for immigrants and others who need our love and was roundly condemned by some politicians who consider themselves Christians and even moved to pass a house resolution denouncing her words.
So this, too, was the “radical” position of Francis, who also asked for mercy and an on-going awareness, as I’ve always felt, that we’re all members of the same family and when the predator drone missiles fly and accidentally kill an entire wedding party of 32 in a foreign country, they are not just collateral damage and the price they have to pay in order to win the war on terror, but members of our own family.
Our son has died in Gaza. Our daughter in Israel. Our cousins are lying in pools of blood in Yemen and Ukraine, while other members of our family stand beyond the border’s barriers, clinging not just to the bloody barbed wire, but to the hope that they simply might live.
Yes, the issues of immigration; international conflicts; and the solutions are complex, but for the example he set with his inclusive love for all and by keeping just this one sensibility in mind, and despite the naysayers, I salute Francis and the light he brought to the world when he repeatedly urged us to remember that the world needs bridges not walls.
No applause needed, just some quiet contemplation for a moment.
Phill Courtney has been a high school English teacher and twice a candidate for Congress with the Green party. His opinion pieces have appeared in many local newspapers and today we welcome him to The Sentinal. His email is: pjcourtney1311@gmail.com